Rudra - Amazing Archer
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- Publication date
- 2011-09-01
- Topics
- Bharat Bhushan, Rudra, Shiva, Archers, Arjuna, Kiratarjuneya, Parvati, Shiva Purana, Mahabharata, Krishna, Nara, Narayana
- Publisher
- Bharat Bhushan
- Collection
- folkscanomy_religion_bhagavad_gita; folkscanomy_religion; folkscanomy
- Contributor
- Bharat Bhushan
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Copyright - Dr. Bharat Bhushan - bharatbhushan@yahoo.com
- Item Size
- 20.1M
It is thus written in ancient Indian mythology, that there could be more than 3,300 astras of the gods, especially the main vedic gods. Some of the important or often-mentioned astras include the brahmastra and the pasupatastra. Astras were meant to fight the wars of the gods against demons, asuras and rakshasas. Sometimes, the super-weapons were granted to devout asuras or rakshasas, as a result of stupendous meditation upon Gods. The Indrastra, Asurastra, Pramohana-astra, Devi-astra, Pashupati-astra or Pasupatastra, Shakti-astra, and the Chakra-astra were used in these wars and are mentioned on various occasions in the puranas.
Indra had his Vajra, the thunderbolt, while Shiva was known for his astras, the lightning-bolts. The Hiranyastra was one of the vajras of Indra, the Marutastra was the astra of the Maruts, and the Agni-astra, belonged to Bhairava and Shakti. There are many other similarly significant astras that are known to be particularly useful, such as the Vidyastra, the weapon of intellect, and the Vira Jayastra, the weapon for victory.
There are several weapons known in Hindu mythology. Each super-weapon is ascribed to their specified gods. These include the Agneyastra, Brahmastra, Sudarsana Chakra, Pasupatastra, Trishul, Garudastra, Varunastra and the Narayanastra. These weapons were used for deliberate purposes. The Agneyastra was to invoke fire upon the enemy, the Nagastra would bring forth thousands of poisonous snakes and the Varunastra was invoked to bring forth water to fight fire.
The Brahmastra of Indra or the Pasupatastra of Shiva or the Narayanastra of Vishnu could only be used once, when invoked in war, against one particular enemy, and therefore had to be utilised with great care. Upon use, these specific astras would return to the original owner. Rama used the Narayanastra in the battle with Ravana. The astra was later used by Ashwattama, son of Dronacharya, at Kurukshetra, on behalf of the Kauravas.
The most destructive astra of all, the Pashupati-astra of Rudra, was the most feared, since it belonged to Durga, the destructive manifestation of Parvati. Blessed by Shiva, Pashupatinath, and taught the manner of use of the astra, are two of the most significant individuals in the ancient puranas.
Shiva blessed Meghnad, the son of Ravana, in the Treta Yuga and Arjuna, the third of the Pandavas, in the Dvapara Yuga, with the Pasupatastra. Both warriors were instructed to be careful in the use of the astra, for it was the most destructive weapon of Shiva, capable of being discharged even by a thought in the mind, eyes, words or a bow. The pre-condition was to use it only for dharma.
The paradox is paramount in the nomenclature of the astras, when one considers the pasupatastra. Shiva, or Pashupatinath, is also known as the Lord of the animals, and their protector. So, how could the pasupatastra be thus named, to be the most destructive of all, capable of destroying creation itself?
Notes
The best of the stories about the astras, is from the best story of all times, the Mahabharata, and presents two of the most excellent individuals in the pantheon of India’s puranas (= ancient vedic and pre-vedic epics), Shiva and Arjuna. These epics have been written and re-written by countless ancient authors within the great epics themselves, and also as separate stories that present amazing situations in an epic-poem or ballad or within a collection of other stories.
In brief, Arjuna, the third of the Pandavas, was the hero of the Mahabharata, the chosen one of Krishna and the recipient of the Bhagavad Gita. He was the wielder of the mighty bow, the Gandiva, and the one who had the secret of wielding the Pasupatastra, given to him by none other than Shiva himself.
Arjuna who would have to travel away from the Pandavas and seek help from Rudra and Indra, for obtaining the blessings and the secret mantras (= incantations) to use super-weapons, or astras, if the gods would bless them with their support. Vyasa advised the Pandavas that they would need to prepare during their later years of exile in planning for the eventual Great War with the Kauravas.
Arjuna, the Savyasachi, was seen with his mighty Gandiva by his side, and with the powerful Pasupatastra, for there were only a very few who were blessed by Shiva, that they could see and thus receive his grace.
By his touch, Shiva enabled Arjuna to gain the strength that he had given away in pursuit of his austerities, and purged him of all the evil, his entire ego, the impatience and the arrogance of an imperfect warrior. From that moment when Shiva blessed the great warrior with his mere touch, it became impossible for Arjuna to be wrong in battle, in his manner of thought and strategy. Shiva blessed him to forever be accompanied by the mighty Gandiva and the Pasupata.
- Addeddate
- 2011-11-28 11:04:04
- Collection_added
-
folkscanomy_religion
folkscanomy
additional_collections - Identifier
- Rudra-AmazingArcher
- Identifier-ark
- ark:/13960/t58d0xj7h
- Location
- India, Himalayas
- Ocr
- ABBYY FineReader 8.0
- Ppi
- 300
- Year
- 2011
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